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Football at Four: Caplan's Eagles Training Camp To Do List · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the day that Eagle fans everywhere have been
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  waiting for.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll get into what you need to look for.
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  Speaker 1: At Eagles training camp with NFL insider Adam Kaplan from
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  the Inside the Birds podcast, like subscribing, download wherever you
• 0:15
  get your podcast.
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  Speaker 2: Adam, how are you doing today?
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  Speaker 3: I'm doing well, Josh, hope you're doing well. And yeah,
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  like always, Josh, almost always, the Eagles usually sign a
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  player two, some veterans just for depth purposes. We'll get
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  into that move. The Eagles made one today which I
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  thought was interesting. But you don't want to read into
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  anything it means, I mean, you can't. It's just it's
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  a depth issue. But a depth signing will explain it.
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  We talked about this couple for a couple of months
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  about what they might do at edge, but yeah, we're there.
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  I mean, they got the conditioning test. Their first practice
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  is tomorrow, the only practice during the week. Two days.
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  They just practice one same Thursday, walk through Friday, then
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  practice on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: So one of the things that we know about is
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  when players show up the camp, they're not always in
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  the condition that the team wants, right, And I know
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  that there are tons of stories out of that you
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  can give not with the Eagles, but with the many
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  teams about players showed up the camp to the team
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  being like, hey buddy, maybe you need to maybe work
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  on this a little bit, right right.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm gonna say three years ago we had a
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  note on inside the Birds that Joy my Lotta was
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  too heavy at OTA's and he was told to slim
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  down and we lost about twenty five pounds in about
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  six weeks. And that's an example of it. You know,
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  you tell a player based on what he looks like
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  and what he weighs, and they gave him a goalway
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  and they reached it rather easily. So then you haven't
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  got the situation where players are told to gainway put
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  masks on the frame. Jay ex Sun was told that,
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  and we'll see. That's one of the things I look at,
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  Josh when I go to camp, is I look at eyes.
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  I look at you know, if they put something on
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  their bike, do they need to put weight on? Because
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  you could tell sometimes. I mean I remember there's a
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  I'll give you him, secure player named Alex McAllister. If
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  you're a real Eagles fan, you'll remember him.
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  Speaker 2: He was, Oh I remember him.
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  Speaker 3: You got it. He was an edgebresher from I believe Florida, Florida, Okay,
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  Harry Roseman school. So I he looks so thinn he
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  couldn't even fill his jersey out. I'm like, there's no
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  way this guy's going to make it. And he didn't.
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  There's sometimes you could tell like this guy's could have
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  a problem with if a guy looks too slow. You
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  look for that stuff. So that what in terms of
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  what I look for it and plus for the well
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  we'll give the fans, we're going to go to Novercare.
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  That's where practices are. Plus the one practice at the link.
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  If you're able to go the season, takeolders and invited guests.
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  The guests are typically club business clients and their and
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  their families and so forth. But if you're able to
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  go see them, I would look for this kind of stuff,
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  this guy bigger than you thought, smaller in you thought,
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  and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 1: For you, Adam, when you look at over the years,
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  obviously that's a big part of the day one of camp.
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  So obviously with the fans don't really know about that
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  as much. So for you when you're looking at it
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  as well as covering the team, what is something it
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  needs to be with the depth chart you need people
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  to look at.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't really it doesn't mean anything to me.
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  It's in OTAs you make a note of it, but
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  it doesn't really mean anything. It definitely means something. Not
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  so much the first day. It's at the first two
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  weeks progress you start to see rotations. You get to
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  see who's running with the first, second, and third teams.
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  They're generally three teams of on offense and defense. And
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  then every once in a while, if they have too
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  many players of a fourth team there's poor players, they're
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  almost certainly not going to make it. Although Corey Clement
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  in twenty seventeen, I remember him running with a fourth
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  team initially, they move him up very quickly to because
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  I remember taking that note to the third team and
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  the second team, and as you know what happened. What
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  an unbelievable story Corey Clement was. He goes would not
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  have won a Super Bowl at them. Let's call it
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  like it is, believe this or not, they wouldn't have
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  won that Super Bowl. You know what he did in
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  that came against thew England. He was incredible and had
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  a great season, but so I really do look at that.
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  I look at where guys are lined up. Also, Joshua's
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  talk about a minute, but it's really to me, what's
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  the rotation looks like who's working with the first, second,
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  and third teams. But also what we do see and
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  we do see this in Oteam is even more the
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  first day is not a direct indication of what will
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  happen in season, because the next day they may work out,
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  they may rotate, they may put someone else with the
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  first team. So you don't want to overdo it. But
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  after a week, week and a half, that's when you
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  could say, you know what, I think we kind of
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  learned something. We know who's going to be with the
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  first team.
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  Speaker 1: So with Adam Kaplan NFL Insider at Kaplan NFL on
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  the X platform of course Inside the Birds podcast like
• 4:54
  subscribing download wherever you get your podcast, and subscribed Inside
• 4:57
  the Birds on YouTube as well. Adam, you mentioned about
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  where players line up. This is always an interesting conversation
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  because you know, as you said, people have opinions and
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  ideas and theories about what guys are going to do,
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  but then when you actually see them on the field
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  running those seven on sevens and those other eleven on
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  eleven situations. That creates a whole nother conversation.
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  Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, So like offensively, okay, where's Mileston is gonna
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  line up? Who's a six round pick out of Michigan.
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  He can play left or right tackle, so we'll look
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  for that in training camp. Where's Tarras Marshall? I? Now
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  these are backups with tars Marshall is you're going to
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  play he's better outside than he is inside. But how
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  do they use him? Who's he played behind running back?
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  Is will Shipley going to be used on third down?
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  If so, let's see how he doesn't pass protection although
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  you're not really allowed to block very much during the
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  five day acclimation pier. But let's see what happens with him.
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  But defensively, it's where it's at, Josh, what's the rotation
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  look like? Where are they gonna line up? Ty Robinson
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  number ninety five and training campus, the fourth rount and
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  pick from Nebraska. They're very high on what when you
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  look at the secondary, what's the rotation going to be
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  at cornerback? And also when we talk about where a
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  guy's gonna line up, where's mac McWilliams gonna line up now.
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  The eaglest drafted him to mostly be nickel, but he
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  can play outside. Are they going to use Drew mccouba,
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  who's a safety but could play nickel because he did
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  play it in college? Does he is he just as secure?
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  Does he play nickel? We wouldn't really talk a lot
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  about that in the off season, but it's something we
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  were going to keep an eye on. By the way,
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  where is Cooper Degen? Is he only going to be
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  a nickel? Will he play corner? What Vic Fanger did
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  say in base he probably won't line him up. They
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  only play They played bass defense about ten snaps per game.
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  But let's say, I mean, that's the thing that I
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  like to see. You know, Tha's there's a lot of experimentation,
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  so I don't put a lot of stock into it.
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  But when you do something in train of camp, it's
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  it's generally deliberate. It's something that you're definitely considering. And
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  I'm looking forard to that this week and next week.
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  Speaker 1: And by the way, Vic Fangio speaks on Thursday this week,
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  so and I remember last year, Adam Fangio has been
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  very open last year in this year about what he's
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  going to do with guys. So you mentioned about the gene,
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  he is going to tell you what he likes and
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  doesn't like sometimes about some of these guys where they
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  are lining up. Speaking of the players, how about player development, Adam,
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  Who are guys to have an eye on, who from
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  maybe last year to this year might be improving, might
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  be regressing.
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  Speaker 2: What are you looking for in that department?
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  Speaker 3: All right, let's start an offensive receiver. Danny Gray is
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  a guy we've talked about on inside the Birds that
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  he's been here, a fourn third round pick for the ninership,
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  is maybe the fastest receiver they have on the team.
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  We really want to see if he could contribute because
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  their first three spots on the depth charter set. After that,
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  no one's short of a job. So he's a guy
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  who want to seek He didn't really play last year
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  very much. And then an I Smith who was a
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  non factor last season, who's a slot receiver returner and
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  manufactured touch player who I know they were very excited about.
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  He wasn't ready last year due to the foot problems.
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  We want to see how he's developed, certainly, and Will
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  Shipley number twenty eight, who's going to have a bigger
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  role than he did last year. We want to see
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  how he has developed him from one year to year one,
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  a year two, that's a big deal. Josh defensively Bying
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  Young who never played for the Eagles last season. He
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  was claimed off waivers from the Raiders. The guy was
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  a third round pick. Let's see. Let's see if he
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  can play. Gabe Hall, who had a good off season,
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  Number ninety six on directed free agent, who the Eagles
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  gave a big practice squad guaranteed to last year. This
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  is a guy who's got elite length, but that's about it.
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  Is he a player? Well, we're going to find out.
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  Inside packer Jeremiah Trotter junior Josh right now he should
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  be working with the ones. Will learn more this week.
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  He should be the guy who lines up mostly opposite Bond.
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  We want to see how he develops. And then the secondary.
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  It's obviously this is the big one and we'll get
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  the edge in a second killey ringo like for the
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  second straight off season, it's looked good. And then in
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  ot as. Only we know what happened last year. He
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  could not build on the really good OTAs last year
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  he struggled for the first week of training camp and
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  the really Isaiah Rodgers beat him out for that that
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  third job. So can Ringo put it together. It's a
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  big year for him. And then at edge, this is
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  a major one with Jaylexon by the way, this is
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  this is something we're going to talk about on tomorrow
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  show in addition to the and I'll mention this player
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  that they signed in a minute. But the player development
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  on defense is so big because Josh, you are going to
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  have a minimum five new starters on that side of
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  the football.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, obviously you know that development is extra important,
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  not just because the new players at him, because these
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  are young players. Well these are not you know, vested
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  tons of vested veterans all over the place. The Eagles
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  had a lea with the ninth youngest roster in the
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  NFL last year, Adam. Speaking of the positions camp battles,
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  you mentioned Will Shipley earlier to start with the number
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  two running back spot.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is a big one, Josh. It's not that
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  aj Dillon camp played on third down, That's just not
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  what he does. And with Kenny Gamewell, who is their
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  best pass protector for the past three seasons, not on
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  the rosteries now with Pittsburgh al though we're told the
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  Eagles actually try to resign him, but the money was
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  similar is a little bit more with Pittsburgh. But the
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  Eagles really like Shipley. He's more explosive than Gamewell. So
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  we're gonna learn early on what will Shipley's role is
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  going to be. But the number two jobs open now,
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  we expect Dylan to be that guy when Barkley can't play,
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  to handle a lot of carries. But you know what,
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  ag Dillon's got to sho you can still play. We
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  don't know that yet. Right guard, everybody knows that job's
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  up for grabs. It's Tyler Seen's job to lose.
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  Speaker 1: Safety.
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  Speaker 3: Is Drew mccoba gonna be ready to start, but we're
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  sitting Brown. We think that's going to have happened. That's
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  going to be that answer, but he's got to go
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  get it. And then Corner obviously Ringo versus the Dori Jackson,
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  that's the battle that's the biggest battle on defense and
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  then Edge, it's just that Josh is Asizo Jeli going
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  to be ready to be that third edge and then
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  is Jayalok Hunt ready to be full time? And what's
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  the rotation going to look like. That'll work itself out
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  in training camp. And I do want to mention we'll
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  talk about the roster moves that they made in a minute,
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  but just to overall, Josh, there are a lot of
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  questions on defense, because look, they had the best defense
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  in football last year. Statistically they were great, way better
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  than anyone could have believed they could be. And now
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  they've had so many so much change their questions on
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  that side of the football.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned the move they made today, So for those
• 12:01
  who didn't see the news, not a crazy signing, but
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  at least it's an interesting signing, at least from my perspective.
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  Adam Kaplan NFL Insider, the final one for you. I'm
• 12:10
  gonna try to say this name. I might mispronounce it,
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  but I believe what I saw was the pronunciation was
• 12:16
  Ogbo Akuwongwu.
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  Speaker 2: Is that correct?
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Obo's this nickname I'm told, so, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: That's so much easier.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know obviously know this obscure thing. So so
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  what happened with him was he was drafted by the Rams,
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  it didn't work out. He signs with the Texans as
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  a subpackaged rusher, he does really well. So then Josh,
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  he signs a three year deal as a free agent
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  with the Browns for worth about nineteen million. It's really
• 12:50
  good backup edge of money, okay obo, and it just
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  doesn't work out now. They stuck with him because the
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  first two years a lot of the money was garone
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  he signed. It was one of these things where they
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  weren't going to give up on him because there was
• 13:05
  just too much money that he was owed. So they
• 13:07
  stuck by him. It didn't work. He wasn't bad, but
• 13:09
  just he wasn't good as they thought he should be.
• 13:11
  They couldn't justify paying him as funny or so they
• 13:13
  cut him. So this is a smart signing. We would
• 13:16
  settle off season. They don't. Eagles don't have to do
• 13:18
  anything at edge, but they really could use one more guy. Remember, Josh,
• 13:23
  you need to have three teams on each position. You
• 13:26
  got to death. We know it's Smith and Hunt, then Oje,
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  Lauri and o'she. The third team is pal Ryland and
• 13:34
  then Patrick Johnson's really not a dead rusher. He's a
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  special teams player who could play it if you need him.
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  kJ Henry was cut on Tuesday. He's a guy that's
• 13:44
  was directed by Washington, but he's wasn't going to make
• 13:46
  the team. O'shawn Mathis is a former Rams draft pick
• 13:50
  and the Eagle sign him last year. They were taking
• 13:51
  a look at him. But here's the problem, Josh, because
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  if Josh joh Hot Campbell was ready, different story, they
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  wouldn't need to joinything. Yes, they're gonna cross train him. Eventually,
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  he's going to start it inside backer start off once
• 14:04
  he's cleared in August to practice. But had he never
• 14:07
  had surgery, they wouldn't need to because he could, then
• 14:10
  he'd be able to play both. But right now they
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  don't know what he'll be able to if it will
• 14:13
  be an inch the season because they got to see
• 14:15
  how he handles inside backer first. So they really did
• 14:18
  need one more guy another position, which we expect them
• 14:22
  to addressed at some point. I could not give you
• 14:24
  a timeline inside backer if you thick. The Phillies bullpen
• 14:28
  is paper thin before David Robertson's signing Josh, because are
• 14:32
  even thinner at inside backer, they could barely line up.
• 14:35
  They could technically line up with three teams in training camp,
• 14:39
  but barely Josh, and that's a position by the time
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  the preseason starts, they're probably gonna have to do something.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: He's NFL insider Adam Kaplan, a cap an NFL on
• 14:50
  the X platform.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Inside the Birds is the podcast.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Inside the Birds dot Com is the website, like subscribe
• 14:56
  and down lo wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forge
• 14:59
  about the YouTube, Jack and I'll just search Inside the Birds, Adam,
• 15:03
  great stuff.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: They will talk soon.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Sounds good. Sh